SuzSmith

Hi

New to this site so sorry if someone has already posted something similar! Looking for some advise if anyone can help

Me and my partner are looking to live and work in Canada from next summer. My partner is an electrical engineer and I am recently trained as a counsellor. I am finishing a degree in Applied Social Science at the moment, and have a foundation degree in counselling as well as two years experience as an addiction counsellor. However I am finding it difficult to find any jobs advertised. Are my qualifications enough to work in Canada? Does anyone have any advise?

Thanks so much for reading!

christmasoompa

Hi, and welcome to BE.

I'll move your thread to the Canada forum, as it's some specific questions rather than just an introduction type thread, hopefully you'll get some good answers there.

I suspect that your qualifications won't be enough to work in Canada, but I'm only basing that on the fact that Canada seems to want most occupations to jump through more hoops to work there! Just as your partner will need to sit exams and prove his hours of experience, you might find you need to as well. This might be a good place to start - Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association

I've found a few jobs, although not many I'm afraid, on Job Bank for NOC 4153 (addictions counsellor) - Family, Marriage and Other Related Counsellors - Job Bank

Do you both have visas/PR allowing you to move and work next summer, or do you need to get that sorted first? If so, that timeframe might be a bit optimistic, depending on the visa route.

HTH.

SuzSmith

thank you for the links :-) we are hoping to get jobs sorted first. My degree finishes next June so time frame really is just anytime after that. He has enough points to go through that way but I would really like to be able to secure a job before making the move just to make things a bit less risky.

christmasoompa

You might find that one of you needs a job anyway to get visas - you mention your partner scoring 'enough points', but what visa route are you referring to? If you're looking at Express Entry and referring to the CRS score, does he score over the 450-480 or so required to be in with a chance of being selected from the pool?

Bit of a personal question, but do you mind me asking how old you both are? It's just that if you're aged 30 or under you could look at the IEC visa which would be much easier.

Good luck.

SuzSmith

Yep I think one of us will need a job first. His seems to be slightly more straightforward if he can get an engineering job secured. I am 28 and partner is 27. I am also not sure with my applied social science degree what kind of jobs I would be able to work in. Most things I've seen require a master's degree. Most things I've read so far seem to say that getting a job offer first is the best way to do it.

Atlantic Xpat

IMHO many Social Work / Counselling type roles within Canada will require a Master's level degree. My sister in law is a Student Counsellor at post secondary institution in Ontario & she has both Bachelor and Masters degrees in Social work. I also think it's going to be a challenging field to get into with that all important Canadian qualification and experience.

SuzSmith

That's what I feared! Does anyone know how difficult it is to study on a master's degree in Canada? We are fairly flexible on area. Are the fees very high for an international student? I am not sure how my current bachelor's degree converts.. but I am starting to think more study might be the only way to do it...

christmasoompa

It's not difficult I don't think, fees can be high but it will depend on where you study. The best thing to do is to find a course you'd like to do and then look at the uni's website to see what their international fees are.

If you do study and go on a study permit, then it would have the advantage of your partner getting an open work permit for the same duration.

Best of luck.

DandNHill

There's a website called Charity Village which might be worth checking. Where in Canada will you be?

Tigger1

I hire nationally for counsellors and they all have to have a Masters and about 5 years of post Masters experience. Some non-profit's or smaller organisations may be OK with a bachelors. Charity Village is a good place to start looking.

SuzSmith

Thanks. I will check out charity village. I am happy to do a bit of charity or voluntary work to gain more experience. We are looking at Vancouver but it all depends on where my partner can find work really.

SuzSmith

Thanks. I will look at some charity stuff. May have to look at other options that are in a related field rather than counselling. Frustrating how its so different in each place. Will definitely have a look at charity village :-) thanks for your advise

Suzy

Geordie Lass

PM me. I work as a Counsellor here and have my own private practice. Don't want to put too much info on here.